


How to Catch a Warlock Offguard

by posterchild



Series: How to Kiss a Warlock [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Post 5X13, arthur and lancelot survive, everyone lives (yay), hopefully this works, never tagged before, probably gwaine too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-04-05
Packaged: 2017-12-07 12:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posterchild/pseuds/posterchild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Any thought passing through Merlin's brain crashed to a halt and for a second, but the blissful moment was halted by the high pitched whine that broke out of his throat. He pulled back sharply, unable to stop the look of horror creeping up his face. Arthur however, looked completely nonplussed now, any hints of fear had disappeared...</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Catch a Warlock Offguard

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'll keep this brief; this is my first submission to AO3, but not my first fanfic. For the sake of the story (and because the ending pretty much crushed all my hopes and dreams), we can assume that only Morgana and Mordred died and everyone else made it back. Anyhow, hope you enjoy! :)

Once the battle was over, once Morgana and Mordred had been slain, the knights of Camelot returned home triumphant. Of course Arthur was leading the party with Merlin not far behind, as he always was. They had lost few men, no one Merlin knew well, but still something seemed to be playing on Arthur's mind. He wisely decided not to push the issue; perhaps Arthur was mourning the loss of his misguided sister, and the knight he thought he'd known better than anyone. When they got back to Camelot there was a flurry of movement as the knights dismounted and the servants began taking the horses back to the stables for the night. Merlin was half way to taking his own horse when a servant he didn't know took the reigns and his arm was gripped by Arthur himself. Merlin wordlessly let himself be led toward the castle; truthfully all he wanted was some of Gaius' hot food and his bed, and for everything to go back to normal, but he trusted Arthur with his life. Whatever Arthur wanted with him now must be important. Bleakly he realised, nothing would be quite the same as it was, but he was lucky enough to have not been found out. The thought made him shudder in relief. It didn't take them long to get back to Arthur's chambers, and there was no sign of Gwen. She hadn't met them outside, something that Merlin found odd, but pushed to the back of his mind as he automatically stripped Arthur of his armour, ready to be cleaned and polished for the next battle.

"Would you mind getting yourself ready for bed tonight, Sire? Only, I need to get to Gaius. I'm sure he's waiting up for me." Merlin said curtly. Arthur looked pensive, if not a little nervous, and he still hadn't said a word. He soundlessly gripped Merlin's shoulders and pushed the small man to his bed until his knees hit the edge and he was forced to sit with a small 'oof'. Arthur towered over Merlin, his broad chest expanding and contracting erratically; he was scared of something, but his eyes showed trust, respect and something akin to the warm loving glances his mother would shoot him when he was young and infinitely more innocent than he was now. The confusion Merlin was feeling seemed to lift away, leaving nothing more than faith that everything would be okay. The war had been won. Arthur took the opportunity to bend down and press his lips firmly to Merlin's, snaking his hand behind the warlock's head to rest on the back of his neck, strong and sure.

Any thought passing through Merlin's brain crashed to a halt and for a second, there was nothing but the warmth of Arthur's hand on him, and the softness of Arthur's lips on his, but the blissful moment was halted by the high pitched whine that broke out of his throat. He pulled back sharply, unable to stop the look of horror creeping up his face. Arthur however, looked completely nonplussed now, any hints of fear had disappeared.

"I- you- Arthur!" Merlin stammered, internally cursing himself for sounding so whiny. Arthur rolled his eyes, like he always did around Merlin and looked down, unimpressed.

"Yes?" he asked; his first word, Merlin thought bitterly. It sounded the same as always, as if Arthur hadn't done something completely outrageous.

"You- you're the king." Merlin ground out stupidly. Of course his brain would decide to completely fail him now, when he needed it the most.

"Well observed, Merlin." Arthur replied shortly. It was as if he were taunting Merlin, yet urging him to continue with his stunted thought processes. This was ridiculous.

"You're married, Arthur. To Gwen. She's your wife. She's the queen." How was Arthur not seeing how wrong this was? Merlin felt like screaming, but Arthur was smirking proudly. It infuriatingly instilled confidence in Merlin, while simultaneously making him weak at the knees. Blearily, Merlin realised Arthur was talking again.

"She is the queen, and she is the best queen. We do love each other, but there was always someone else, for both of us. We aren't in love." Suddenly, everything was clicking into place and Merlin felt like he could breathe properly again.

"Lancelot," he breathed out, "... and me." The bands that had wound themselves around Merlin's chest were unwinding, leaving nothing but warm relief there. He stared up at Arthur tiredly, "But why me?"

Arthur chuckled throatily as he pushed Merlin back on the bed to straddle him, "Merlin, it was always you."

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again..! If you made it to the end, congratulations and thanks a bunch for reading! If you liked it, please could you drop me a little kudos? It would be awesome for me to keep track of people who actually like what I write. I don't require reviews or anything, but if you fancy dropping me a comment that would be pretty rad too. :D


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